Google Attack Part of Widespread Chinese Spying Effort

Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. Google, by implying that Beijing had sponsored the attack, has placed itself in the center of an international controversy, exposing what appears to be a state-sponsored corporate espionage campaign that compromised more than 30 technology, financial and media companies, most of them global Fortune 500 enterprises.

As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses -- including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors -- have been similarly targeted," wrote Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond in a Tuesday blog posting. "Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists." Google's security team eventually managed to gain access to a server that was used to control the hacked systems, and discovered that it was not the only company to be hit. In fact, 33 other companies had also been compromised, including Adobe Systems, according to several sources familiar with the situation. On Tuesday Yahoo -- another likely target -- declined to say whether it had been hit, but the company did issue a brief statement in support of Google. These "kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing," Yahoo said.

Drummond, in his blog post, said that -- in part due to this incident -- Google would no longer censor search results in China, a move that could cause its Web site to be blocked by the Chinese government.

The U.S. government is taking the attack seriously. Late Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement asking the Chinese government to explain itself, saying that Google's allegations "raise very serious concerns and questions. The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy," she said.

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